In this New York Times article, Bruce Green, director of Fordham Law’s Louis Stein Center for Law and Ethics, comments on whether Todd Blanche, the president’s former lawyer, should interview the lawyer of Ghislaine Maxwell, a longtime associate of Jeffrey Epstein, about the scandal.
Legal ethics experts said that Mr. Blanche was likely not affected by a formal conflict of interest by negotiating with Ms. Maxwell as both a top official of the Justice Department and the former lawyer of someone who, in theory, could be implicated by her statements. Still, they said, his involvement in the talks created a murky situation rife with potential pitfalls and complexities.
“This ought to be handled by someone who is disinterested in the results because if they are not, then they can’t be trusted to do what’s in the public’s interest,” said Bruce Green, who teaches legal ethics at Fordham Law School in New York. “The problem with Blanche is that he is likely not disinterested not only because he used to be Trump’s lawyer, but because Trump put him in his high office in the Justice Department.”